Portable data-processing terminal

ABSTRACT

A cellular phone has a competition manager for controlling a competition between an inquiry task which inquires whether or not the inquiry task is allowed to start and a competing task having a competition with the inquiry task because these two of the tasks use a common lower-level functional unit. The competition manager is implemented by a competition management program which is independent from other application programs.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] (a) Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a portable data-processingterminal and, more particularly, a portable data-processing terminal,such as cellular phone and portable data assistant, having a functionfor managing the competition between a plurality of tasks.

[0003] (b) Description of the Related Art

[0004] Portable data-processing terminals such as a cellular phone arewidely used in the daily life of the majority of people. A cellularphone, for example, has a plurality of task programs for controlling aplurality of tasks, such as call originating task for originating acall, call accepting task for accepting a call based on a radio signaltransmitted from a base station. The cellular phone has also otherprograms which are not directly involved with the telephone functions,such as a schedule alarm program or a low-voltage alarm program.

[0005] The plurality of tasks controlled by the task programs arecategorized in a few types including first type which is started by theinput operation of the keyboard by the user, second type which isstarted by the radio signal transmitted from the base station, thirdtype which is started automatically at a specified time interval etc.These tasks are started at respective timings independent of each other,although these tasks may use a common lower-level functional block orunit, such as a receiving block, transmitting block, display unit, or aspeaker.

[0006] Thus, a competition between a plurality of tasks sometimes arisesin the cellular phone, wherein the plurality of tasks use the commonlower-level function. For avoiding such a competition in a conventionaltechnique, each task or task program recognizes the status of the othertasks or task programs using the common lower-level functional unit.Such a competition can be avoided, if a task, which is to use a specificlower-level functional unit, recognizes the status of other tasks anddelays the use of the specific lower-level functional unit byforecasting a competition.

[0007] In the conventional technique for avoiding the competition, asdescribed above, there is a problem in that each program should have anadditional program part for avoiding the competition in addition to theprogram body used for achieving the own inherent task thereby causing anincreased size of the program. In addition, if a new task program isadded to the existing task programs, the existing task programs must berevised due to the change of the competition conditions. The work forthe revision of the programs increases the costs of the cellular phone.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0008] In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention toprovide a portable data-processing terminal which is capable of avoidingcompetition among the task programs at a lower cost.

[0009] The present invention provides a portable data-processingterminal including a CPU, a plurality of task programs on which the CPUruns for achieving a plurality of tasks, and a competition manager forcontrolling a competition between two of the tasks, the competitionmanager supplying instructions to two of the tasks having a competitiontherebetween before one of the two of the tasks starts for operation.

[0010] In accordance with the portable data-processing terminal of thepresent invention, due to the provision of the competition manager, theplurality of programs need not have a program part for controlling thecompetition with other task programs, with a smaller program part beingincluded in the task program. In addition, the plurality of taskprograms need not be revised upon addition of a new task program in thecellular phone or change of the competing conditions with the other taskprograms.

[0011] The above and other objects, features and advantages of thepresent invention will be more apparent from the following description,referring to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012]FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a cellular phone, shown as a portabledata-processing terminal according to an embodiment of the of thepresent invention.

[0013]FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of part of the cellular phoneof FIG. 1.

[0014]FIG. 3 is a status transition diagram of the cellular phone ofFIG. 1.

[0015]FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the competition manager in the cellularphone of FIG. 1.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

[0016] Now, the present invention is more specifically described withreference to accompanying drawings. Referring to FIG. 1, a cellularphone, generally designated by numeral 10, is shown as a data processingterminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. Thecellular phone 10 includes a receiving/transmitting antenna 11, a filter12, a receiving block 13, a transmitting block 14, a frequencysynthesizer 15, a display unit 16, a keyboard 17, a memory 18, a voiceprocessor 19, a microphone 20, a speaker 21, and a control unit 22including CPU.

[0017] The antenna 11 receives and transmits a radio signal from/to abase station of a radio communication system including the cellularphone 10. The receiving block 12 includes a radio-frequency amplifier, areceiving mixer, intermediate-frequency amplifier and a demodulator, forexample, and receives the radio signal from the base station through theantenna 11 and the filter 12 to demodulate the received signal to outputa voice signal.

[0018] The transmitting block 14 includes a modulator, a transmittingmixer and a power amplifier, for example, and modulates a voice signal,mix the modulated signal with a baseband frequency to transmit the mixedsignal through the filter 12 and the antenna 11 to the base station. Thefrequency synthesizer 15 generates a variable frequency allocated to thecellular phone to output the frequency to the receiving block 12 and thetransmitting block 13.

[0019] The voice processor 19 receives voice from the microphone 20 tooutput the voice signal through the control unit 22 to the transmittingblock 14, and receives the voice signal from the receiving block 12through the control unit 22 to output voice through the speaker 21.

[0020] The control unit 22 controls the overall operation of thecellular phone 10. Th control unit 22 delivers the voice signal from thereceiving block 12 to the voice processor 19, and from the voiceprocessor to the transmitting block 14. The control unit 22 receives theinput of a telephone number from the keyboard 17 to display thetelephone number on the display unit 16 and deliver the same through thetransmitting block 14. The memory 18 temporarily stores the data inputfrom the keyboard and received from the receiving block 12.

[0021] The control unit 22 stores therein a program block 30 including avariety of application programs or task programs for achieving a varietyof tasks of the cellular phone. The program block 30 includes a talkprogram 31, an end of talk program 32, a call accepting program 33, acall originating program 34, a waiting program 35, a base stationselecting program 36, and a competition management program 39 etc. aswell as a schedule management program 37 and a low-voltage alarm program38. The competition management program 39 constitutes a softwarecompetition manager installed in the control unit (CPU) 22, and managesa competition or competitions between two or more of the task programs31 to 38.

[0022] Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a functional block diagram ofa part of the cellular phone of FIG. 1. The cellular phone 10 includes asoftware competition manager 40 which is constituted by the competitionmanagement program 39 shown in FIG. 1, and a task execution block 50which is constituted by the task programs 31 to 38 in the program block30 excluding the competition management program 39.

[0023] The competition manager 40 includes a competition detectionsection 41, a judgement section 42, a notification section 43, and adata storage section 47 for storing current status data 44, firstcompetition data 45 and second competition data 46.

[0024] The task execution block 50 executes a variety of tasks based onthe task programs 31 to 38 which define task execution procedures, suchas talk procedure, end of talk procedure, call accepting procedure, calloriginating procedure, waiting procedure, base station selectingprocedure, schedule management procedure, low-voltage alarm procedure inthe cellular phone etc.

[0025] Those procedures may use common lower-order functional units,such as receiving section 13, transmitting section 14, display unit 16and voice processor 19, disposed in the cellular phone 10. These taskprocedures are started by operation of the keyboard 17, a radio callsignal supplied from outside the cellular phone, or at a specified timeinterval, for example, and thus started at a variety of events which maybe controlled or not controlled by the operation by the user. Each taskin the task execution block 50 delivers an inquiry signal to thecompetition manager 40 at the start of the own procedure.

[0026] The competition manager 40, upon receiving an inquiry signal froma task, judges whether or not a competition arises between the task thatdelivered the inquiry signal and other tasks that are operating at thatinstant, thereby detecting the presence of a competition. Thecompetition manager 40 notifies the inquiry task, i.e. the task thatdelivered the inquiry, of the allowance, hold or prohibition of thestart of the task procedure, and notifies the other tasks of respectiveinstructions. The contents of the notification to these members dependon the relationship between these members having a competitiontherebetween. The instruction from the competition manager 40 avoids theoccurrence of the competition.

[0027] Example of the detailed operation of the competition manager 40will be described hereinafter. It is to be noted that the task executionblock 50 includes a talk task for processing and continuing a talk, anend of talk task for ending the talk to return to a waiting state, acall accepting task for ringing a call sound upon receiving a callsignal from outside, a call originating task for originating a callsignal, a schedule management task for managing the daily schedule ofthe user, and a low-voltage alarm task for detecting and notifying thereduction of the battery voltage. Each of the tasks acts as an inquirytask which delivers an inquiry to the competition manager 40.

[0028] In the competition manager 40, when a task delivers an inquiry,the competition detection section 41 compares the current status data 44against the first competition data 45 to detect whether or not acompetition arises after the inquiry task that delivered the inquirystarts for operation. The judgement section 42 determines theinstructions for the tasks now operating and the inquiry task after thecompetition detection section 41 detects a presence of the competition.The notification section 43 notifies the competing tasks of theinstructions, which are the results of the judgement by the judgementsection 42.

[0029] Table 1 shows an example of the current status data 24 stored inthe data storage section 47. TABLE 1 Talk End Accept Originate ScheduleLow-volt. Status inactive Inactive Active inactive held inactive

[0030] In the table, Talk, End, Accept, Originate, Schedule, andLow-vol. means talk task, end of talk task, call accepting task, calloriginating task, schedule management task, and low-voltage alarm task,respectively.

[0031] The current status data 24 represents the current status of eachtask, which may be active, inactive, interrupted or held. As the statusto be tabulated in the table 1, “active” means that the task is nowunder operation, “inactive” means that the task is not under operation,“interrupted” means that the task is temporarily interrupted in theactive state and ready for restarting the operation, and “held” meansthat the task is waiting for start of operation after inquiry ofallowance for the start. The table 1 exemplarily shows that the callaccepting task is now active with the remaining tasks being inactive orheld.

[0032] Table 2 tabulates instructions to be delivered to the inquirytask shown at the leftmost column in connection with the competing tasksshown at the topmost row when the competing tasks are at states otherthan “inactive” at the time of the inquiry. TABLE 2 Inquiry Low- taskTalk End Accept Originate Schedule vol. Talk discard Discard allowdiscard allow allow End allow Discard discard discard discard allowAccept allow Discard discard discard allow allow Originate allow Discarddiscard discard discard allow Schedule allow Discard hold discarddiscard allow Low-vol. discard Discard discard discard allow discard

[0033] In the table 2, “allow” means that there is no effectivecompetition factor after the start of operation based on the instructionand thus the inquiry task is allowed to start, “discard” means that thestart of the inquiry task raises a competition and thus the start signalfor the inquiry task is discarded, and “hold” means that the start ofthe inquiry task raises a competition and is temporarily held forwaiting.

[0034] In the example shown in the table 2, if the talk task delivers aninquiry, for example, as shown in the second row of the table 2, then itis allowed to start even if the call accepting task, schedule managementtask and low-voltage alarm task are active, whereas the inquiry itselfis discarded if at least one of the talk task, end of talk task and calloriginating task resides in a state other than inactive.

[0035] Table 3 shows an example of the list of the instructions notifiedby the competition manager 40 to the competing tasks shown at the toprow, upon inquiry from each inquiry task shown at the leftmost column,the competing task residing in a state other than inactive. TABLE 3Inquiry Competing task task Talk End Accept Originate Schedule Low-vol.Talk continue Continue continue continue continue continue End continueContinue continue continue continue continue Accept start Continuecontinue continue continue continue Originate continue Continue continuecontinue continue continue Schedule continue Interrupt continue continuecontinue continue Low-vol. continue Continue continue continue endcontinue

[0036] In the table 3, the instruction is either start, end, interrupt,restart or continue. The instructions “start”, “end”, “interrupt”,“restart” and “continue” to be notified mean that the competing taskwhich is now held should be started, that the competing task should beended, that the competing task now active should be interrupted, thatthe competing task now interrupted should be restarted, and that thecompeting task now active is allowed to continue without notificationthereto.

[0037] For example, if the inquiry task is the low-voltage alarm taskand the competing task is the schedule alarm task, then the schedulealarm task is ended based on the instruction shown in the table 3whereas the low-voltage alarm task is allowed to start based on theinstruction shown in the table 2.

[0038] Referring to FIG. 3, there is shown a transition diagram of thecellular phone of the present embodiment, wherein the status of the taskencircled shifts to another status based on the instruction shown by thearrow, the instructions being tabulated in the tables 2 and 3. As shownin FIG. 2, the inquiry task now “inactive” is allowed to start if theinstruction by the competition manager 40 is “allow”, shifts to “held”if the instruction is “hold”, and remains “inactive” if the instructionis “discard”.

[0039] A task which resides at a state other than “inactive”, i.e.,“held”, “active” or “interrupted” also shifts its status to “inactive”,“interrupted” or “active” based on the instruction shown in FIG. 3 bythe competition manager 40.

[0040] Referring to FIG. 4, there is shown a flowchart of the procedurein the cellular phone of the present embodiment. First, an inquiry taskdelivers, upon receiving a start signal therefor, an inquiry to thecompetition manager 40 (step S1), the inquiry including the name of theown task and one or more of possible competing task that uses a commonlower-order functional unit.

[0041] The competition detection section 41 in the competition manager40 reads the current status data 44 such as shown in the table 1 fromthe data storage section 47 to extract any task which resides at a stateother than “inactive” (step S2). If no task is extracted, which meansthere is no possible competition, then the process advances to step S7through step S3.

[0042] If at least one task is extracted in step S2, then the extractedtask is compared against the possibly competing tasks recited in theinquiry (step S3). If it is judged in step S3 that the extracted task isnot the competing task, then the process advances to step S7. On theother hand, if it is judged in step S3 that the extracted task is acompeting task, the competition detection section detects occurrence ofa competition, and delivers the result of the detection to the judgementsection 42. The judgement section 42 reads the first competition data 45such as shown in table 2 from the data storage section 47 and finds theinstruction for the inquiry task, with the extracted task being thecompeting task (step S4)

[0043] If the judgement section 42 detects a plurality of competingtasks on the table 2, and the detected competing tasks provide differentinstructions for the inquiry task, then the final instruction for theinquiry task is obtained by examining the different instructions in thefollowing order of priority:

[0044] discard>hold>allow.

[0045] After the final instruction to the inquiry task is obtained, thejudgement section 42 starts for obtaining instructions for the competingtasks.

[0046] The judgement section 42 then reads the second competition data46, such as shown in the table 3, from the data storage section 47 andretrieves the instructions for the competing tasks in the table 3 inconnection with the inquiry data (step S5). After retrieving theinstructions for all of the competing tasks now in a state other than“inactive”, the judgement section 42 finishes its operation.

[0047] The notification section 43 receives the retrieved instructionsfrom the judgement section 42, and notifies the final instruction to theinquiry task and instructions to the competing tasks (step S6), therebyfinishing the procedure of the competition manager 40.

[0048] As described above, the competition manager 40 controls thecompetition between the tasks in the cellular phone of the presentembodiment. This configuration alleviates the burden of the applicationprograms in the cellular phone. More specifically, each of theapplication programs in the cellular phone need not have a program partfor avoiding the competition, and it is sufficient that each applicationprogram has a small program part for inquiry of the competition.

[0049] In addition, since the instructions for the inquiry task and thecompeting tasks are defined in the tables 2 and 3, the applicationprogram may be unchanged upon the change of the competition conditionsor addition of a new application program, with only the need of thetables 2 and 3 being changed accordingly.

[0050] Moreover, the instructions for the inquiry task and the competingtasks can be easily determined because such instructions can be obtainedfrom the relationship between each two of the tasks.

[0051] Since the above embodiments are described only for examples, thepresent invention is not limited to the above embodiments and variousmodifications or alterations can be easily made therefrom by thoseskilled in the art without departing from the scope of the presentinvention.

[0052] For example, the present invention is not limited to the cellularphone as exemplified, and may be applied to any portable data-processingterminal, such as a personal digital assistant. The functional sections41, 42 and 43 of the competition manager 40 may be implemented by aplurality of program sections of the competition management program onwhich the CPU runs. In an alternative, at least a part of thecompetition manager 40 may be implemented by a hardware.

What is claimed is:
 1. A portable data-processing terminal comprising aCPU, a plurality of task programs on which said CPU runs for achieving aplurality of tasks, and a competition manager for controlling acompetition between two of said tasks, said competition managersupplying instructions to two of said tasks having a competitiontherebetween before one of said two of said tasks starts for operation.2. The portable data-processing terminal according to claim 1, whereinsaid competition manager receives an inquiry from said one (inquirytask) of said tasks as to whether or not said inquiry task is allowed tostart, and judges whether or not a competition arises between saidinquiry task and another of said tasks.
 3. The portable data-processingterminal according to claim 2, wherein said competition manager isimplemented by a competition manager program on which said CPU runs. 4.The portable data-processing terminal according to claim 2, wherein saidcompetition manager includes a competition detection section fordetecting a competition between said inquiry task and another of saidtasks, a judgement section for determining instructions for said inquirytask and a competing task, and a notification section for notifying saidinstructions to said inquiry task and said competing task.
 5. Theportable data-processing terminal according to claim 4, wherein saidcompetition detection section retrieves current status data havingcurrent status information of said tasks, and said judgement sectionretrieves instruction data tabulating instructions for each two of saidtasks having a possible competition therebetween.
 6. The portabledata-processing terminal according to claim 5, wherein said currentstatus data includes active, inactive, held and interrupted states forsaid tasks.
 7. The portable data-processing terminal according to claim2, wherein said instructions to said inquiry task include allow, holdand discard of start of said inquiry task.
 8. The portabledata-processing terminal according to claim 2, wherein said instructionsto competing tasks include continue, end, interrupt and start ofoperation of said competing tasks.